Abstract:

Some forms of electronic commerce are starting to flourish, especially on
the Internet. Electronic distribution and storage offer significant
advantages to both providers and customers of intellectual property
(e.g., books, magazines, news, video, images, music, databases,
software). However, the vast majority of digital--or potentially
digital--IP is not yet vended electronically. A major reason is
rightsholders' well-founded concern that their digital content will be
copied and redistributed uncontrollably after an initial sale--without
generating any more revenue.

Rightsholders need credible assurances that each use of their content
will be consistent with the controls they choose to associate with it
(e.g., payment, usage reporting). Customers need to be able to find out
easily what something costs and to pay for each use easily. It should be
much easier to be honest than to cheat. Personal information should be
controlled as scrupulously as financial information.

I will discuss some design requirements for a ubiquitous system of
electronic commerce in IP. Then I will outline the approach developed by
InterTrust. Digital content or business rules can be packaged in a
DigiBox(TM) secure container, which can be processed only by an
InterTrust Commerce Node(TM), a tamper-resistant execution environment
residing on participating machines. The architecture supports electronic
versions of many kinds of traditional commerce. Interesting new forms of
commerce, such as "superdistribution," become feasible when persistent
electronic controls supplement legal restrictions (e.g., copyright) and
physical restrictions (e.g., "copy protection").

Note

Well, it's not the front page of the New York Times, but some
information
about the InterTrust STAR Lab is now available via a link from
InterTrust's home page.
I will be adding
more information as I find time.